Door controlling device



March 5, 1935. w, MQQRE 1,993,224

DOOR CONTROLLING DEVICE Original Filed March 14, 1932 INVENTOR Wg ll ace F. Moore Patented Mar. 5, 1935 t noon CONTROLLING DEVICE Wallace F. Moore, New Britain, Conn., assignor to The American Hardware Corporation, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application March, 14, 1932, Serial No. 598,635

Renewed July 23, 1934 i 8 Claims. (01.189-49) My invention relates to door checks and closers, plunger 30 mounted in said aperture which in and has special reference to such devices that turn is acted upon by a coiled spring 32 interposed are particularly adapted for use in electrically between the upper end of-the plunger and a controlled systems and apparatus for controlling screw plug. 3 The downwardly Sp P e doors. a t i t v I plunger 30 isprovided with a flange that engages) One of the objects of my invention is to proa Shoulder in t ape t 23 t limit the nvide a novel and improved device of this char- W rd movement the P r S0 a W th acter. ball 26 rides out of its pocket and as it reaches Another of the objects of my invention is to th end of the p at 2 it d ps ut of n a providea device of this character that is capable ment with the lower end of the plunger and thus 10 of" being controlled either by means of a fuse. rotates freely during the completion of the closwhen, the temperature of the room reaches a preof the door- Q t determined degree, or by electricafly operated The doorcheck is further provided with means. means. o for releasing the tension of the detent spring 32 The several features of the in ti wh so as to 'render said spring and its associated'del5 the above-mentioned and other objects may be tent P 11 2 p tiv to old he detent attained; will be readily understood from the folhall 26 il p c and thus permit thesp n lowing description and accompanying drawing,.in actuated arm to Close the (10011 This m which:, comprises a lever 36 mounted on the, top side or Figure 1 is a side view; partly in section, of thespring actuated arm 8. One end of this lever 0 d r h k e ing the features of my invenis provided with a recess 38 which loosely receives tion in their preferred form shown applied to a the upper end e 40011 the arm 3, the e d or d door, s th door being open; ture 28 extending through this boss. This recess Fig 2; i 1 p1anvjew f th -a 38 is provided with an aperture through which is F'j g is a sectional elevation on an enlarged screw-threaded the abutment for-the scale, taken on the 1ine 3-3 of Fig. 2. I t p 3. The lever 35 is, detachably My improved door check, as illustratedpin the churned on the arm 3 by an P an h drawing, is particularly adapted for use in the magma tongue lug ,4 n recelved m a Systems and apparatus described and claimed slot 1n the side of the boss 40. The outer end of 1 y pending applications Sen NO. 459,677, filed the lever 36 is held down by means hereinafter June 7, 1930 and Ser. No. 543,400 filed June 10, b r 1931. The door check is shown applied to a door The top slde of the door closmg arm 15 provlded frame or case 2 anda door 4, thedoorbeing shown member 44 h h 3190855 46 for Open Check comprises the usual casing 6 celvmg the outerportion of the lever 36when the 3 5 1 casing enclosing the 115mlv 'fi id operable device is-in normal position.- The under side of the lever 36 is provided with a shoulder 48 which is arranged adjacent the outer face of the mem-f ber 44;

Apost 50 is pivoted at its upper end in a recess inthe under side of the lever 36. This post extends downwardlyvthrough an elongated aperture in the arm 8 and its lower end'is provided with laterally projecting shoulders, one of which is shown at 52. The sides of the post are flattened and arranged closely adjacent the side walls piston. and door closing spring (not shown). vA spring actuated door-closing arm 8- is connected by a loop 10, connecting-rod 12, anda bracket l4 to the door frame. "The spring actuated'arm 8 carries, a double detent or pawl'l'fi for engagement with the teeth of a ratchet wheel 18 con nected with the door closing spring in the usual manner. I A ring 20 is a'djus'tablyisecuredto the upper end of the caste andparrieS' Plate 22 having. of the aperture through WhlChit extends pocket Thls Pocket 24 18 adapted rfacewe vUpon releasing the outer end of the lever 36 the a'dw.nward1y Spnng pressed detent 26 earned y detent spring, 32 acts immediately to throw said a. sp i actuated arm When the detent 1S lever upwardly about the axis of the fulcrum 5Q, received in its saidpo icket' and its 'spring is under formed by the mg 42* Also as the lateralshoul: 50o

' te S Q it s p e h the r Open- This der 52 on the post 50 strikes thekunder sideof the detent comprises a steel ball which is received arm, 8. the lever is forced forwardly a suflicient inthe lower end of a vertical p 23 in the distance. to: disengage. the fulcrum lug 42 from spring actuated arm 8. Thedetent ballispressed the upper wall of the slot infwhich it isreceived.

downwardly whenin said pocket by means of a Thus upon the outer endoith'e 1everi36 being released, the spring actuated arm 16 is permitted immediately to close the door.

The door closing arm is provided with an opening 54 formed by means of an enlarged collar portion 55 on the arm beneath the forward end portion of the lever 36. The lever 36 is held down by means of a trigger or trip 56 that is connected with the lever by means hereinafter described. The trip 56 is pivoted on pins 58 within a casing 60 secured to the under side of a plate 61 secured across the collar portion 55. The trip 56 is normally held in horizontal position by means comprising an armature 70 which when drawn back from thejposition shown in Fig. l releases the trip. The armature is adapted to be thus drawn back by means of felectromagnets 72 when the latter are energized.

When the lever 36 is released, circuit connection with the electro-magnets '72 is broken and cannot be accidentally re-established. To accomplish this, the lead wire from one of the electro-magnets is grounded on the spring actuated arm 36. The other lead wire from the magnet is attached to the binding post '74 which in turn is connected to one side of a power supply (not shown). The other binding post 76 is connected to a spring 78 which is secured to a block the, under side of the arm is held in electrical contact with the contact spring '78. When, however, the lever is released it is immediately disengaged from the contact spring so as to open the circuit.

In order to insure against the circuit being accidentally closed by the lever 36 dropping, a flat spring 82 is secured to a side of the lever 36 which by engaging the end of one of the lugs on the block 80 prevents the lever 36 from falling back into contact with the contact spring '78.

Except as hereinafter described, the parts above referred to may be and preferably are the same as the corresponding parts of the door check described and claimedin my said pending application Ser; No. 543,400.

' the door-check operates in the usual manner.

When the circuit connection with the electromagnets is closed, the trip 56 is released allowing the arm 36 to be thrown upwardly to release the detent 26 from the holding pocket in the stop plate 22. As the arm springs upwardly, the fuse 84 is pulled off of theend of the trip 56 and by the force of the upward movement of the lever 36, is thrown outwardly and away from the end of said lever so that there is no danger of these parts being accidentally re-connected.

Also, when the temperature in the room'reaches a predetermined degree,.the fuse 84 is broken, thus,yalso allowing the .lever 36 to be thrown upwardly to release the. detent 26'to permit the spring actuated arm to close the door. As the fuse is broken, the part thereof on the end of the arm 36 is thrown upwardly and off the arm so that there is no danger of the two parts becoming accidentally connected together again.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that my improved device may operate to close the door either upon energizing the electro-magnet or upon the breaking of the fuse 84. The device is particularly adapted for use where the circuit connection with the electro-magnet is controlled by a thermostat, either located in the same room with the device or in another part of the building. In such case in the event of the failure of the power supply to the device, the fusible link would fuse and thus cause the device to operate to close the door. The device may also be used where the circuitconnection with the electro-magnet is controlled by any other form of switch whether hand or otherwise operated. Also, it will be apparent that any number of my improved door checks can be used and controlled by any number of thermostats or other switching devices.

As will be evident to those skilled in the art,

my invention permits various modifications without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: I

1. The combination of a door, a door-closer comprising a spring tending to close the door, means comprising a device serving when held in one position to hold the door open against the tension of said spring and adapted to be released to permit the spring'to close the door, and'means for maintaining said device in door-holding position comprising a fuse serving when broken to release, said device and electrically controllable means adapted to be operated to release said de-- vice.

2. The combination of a door, a door-closer comprising a spring tending to close the door, means comprising a device serving when held in one position to hold the door open against the tension of said spring and adapted to be released to permit said spring to close the door, and means for maintaining said device in door-holding position comprising electrically controllable means and connection between the latter and said holding device comprising a fuse whereby saidholding device may be released either by operation of said electrically controllable means or breaking of said fuse. v

3. The combination of a door, a door-closer comprising a spring tending to close the door, means comprising a device serving when held in one position to hold the door open against the tension of said spring and adapted to be released to permit said spring to close the door, and means for maintaining said device in door-holding position comprising a retaining member, means for holding said member in fixed position, electrically controllable means for releasing said member, and means comprising a fuse connecting said member with said holding device whereby either upon breaking of the fuse or release of said member said holding device is released.

4. Thecombination of a door, a door-closer comprising a spring tending to close the door,

means comprising a device serving when held in, one position'to hold the door open against the tension" ofsaid spring and adapted to be released to permit the spring to close the door, and means for maintaining said device in doorholding'position comprising a fuse serving when broken to release said device and electrically controllable means adapted to be operated to release said device, and means acting automatically upon breaking of the fuse to break the circuit connection with said electrically controllable means.

5. The combination of a door, a door-closer comprising a spring tending to close the door, means comprising a device serving when held in one position to hold the door open against the tension of said spring and adapted to be released to permit the spring to close the door, and means for maintaining said device in door-holding position comprising a fuse serving when broken to release said device, and electrically controllable means adapted to be operated to release said device, and means acting automatically upon releasing said device either upon breaking of the fuse or on operation of said electrically controllable means to break the circuit connection with said electrically controllable means.

6. In a door closer, the combination of means comprising a spring tending to close the door, a holding device for holding the door open against the tension of the spring, means comprising a fuse for releasing the holding device upon breakage of the fuse, a latching device, said fuse being connected with said holding device and latching device, and electrically conmember when the door is open, latching means carried by said arm, means connecting said holding device and latching means comprising a fuse and electrically controlled means for operating said latching means to release the holding device.

8. In a door closer, the combination of a spring actuated door closing arm, a stop member, a detent carried by said arm and adapted to engage said stop member when the door is open, a spring for maintaining said detent in holding engagement with said stop member to hold the door open when the spring is under tension, a holding device when in one position adapted to hold the spring under tension, means for maintaining said holding device in position comprising a latching device, a fusible link connecting said holding device and latching device, and electrically controlled means for operating said latching device to release the holding device.

WALLACE F. MOORE. 

